


Light Within The Shadows

by CynicalBonehead



Series: Childish Respite [1]
Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Abusive Parents, Child Abuse, Childhood Trauma, Comfort, Comfort Reading, Drabble, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Parental Pitch Black (Guardians of Childhood), Short & Sweet, tags are still hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:48:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27843244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CynicalBonehead/pseuds/CynicalBonehead
Summary: You've always heard tales of the boogeyman, but sometimes the things you've seen seem scarier than what he could do. Hiding under your blankets won't make it all go away.On one particular night, you were supposed to have a nightmare...but he changed his mind once he saw what it would be.A small child's fear..Pulling the strings of The Boogeyman's heart?How absurd.
Series: Childish Respite [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2105166
Comments: 2
Kudos: 48





	Light Within The Shadows

After god knows how long, you finally managed to pass out in your bed. The blankets just layered on you and the pillow you used to drown out sounds fell right off your head. Sleep was probably the only time where you felt at peace. You were in a whole other world that was your own. Even if you couldn't control it all the time, it was a wonderful escape. Sometimes the real world busted into your dreams and would cause it all to become too horrifying to stay.  
You didn't want to think about them.  
Or that.  
Something good for once.. Even if you didn't remember it all, you just needed one good, happy dream in between all the real nightmares you saw in the waking world. 

That was the last thought that crossed your mind.  
A little wish.

The Man In The Moon heard it clear as day and passed the word on to his dream-maker Sanderson Mansnoozie.

"A child desperately needs your dreams." He said. 

Sandy, without hesitation, recognized your name and whipped up an extra strong stream of dream sand. He carefully visualized where your home was and sent the sand on its merry way. He'd know by morning what your dream was, and he wiggled his feet in high hopes you'd get some good sleep. 

'I'll have to check up on them more..' Sandy thought to himself. 

Sandy then moved on to whipping up more sand trails for other children. 

The sand trail slithered through the landscape, slipped through the walls and found its way to you. The sand lightly sprinkled itself over you, as its warmth covered your whole body like a heated blanket. It was enough to cause you to smile in your sleep! Even just for a moment.. 

Something else had slipped in your room however. It was nothing but a shadow at first. It slithered into the darkness under your bed, collecting enough energy from the shadows to gain a physical form. First his hands came out, pulling the rest of his long body from the cold shadows. The last thing to slip out were his legs, snapping back into place after contorting to fit. His arms and neck followed with cringe inducing cracking noises. 

"Finally." He sighed in relief. 

He brushed the dust off his ebony shoulders and turned towards you. An innocent sleeping little child with a pool of dream sand slowly spinning above them, oh what a delightful sight that was to him. 

"Oh how adorable." He muttered. "Sandman is using some extra special sand on you...Mhmhmm.. I wonder how powerful it would be.." 

He raised his finger towards the swirling golden sand with an almost sadistic smile on his face. Just from a brush of his finger, the sand began to turn a cursed black color. The sound of you wincing made him chuckle. What was so scary that the sandman needed to double down on your dreams, he wondered to himself. The Boogeyman parted the nightmare sand above you to see exactly what scared you so badly.

Oh.

His smile began to slowly fade.

The thing you were most afraid of.... was certainly something no child should have to deal with or worry about. Pitch ceased the vision and he took a few steps away from your bed. Kids were scared of little things. That was very common. Spiders were common. Clowns were common. Nightmares of showing up to school in only underpants was common.  
Nightmares of...something to an inexplicable nature being done to you, a child..?  
Pitch Black had only come across moments like this every so often. He was supposed to be a spirit of fear, feeding off of every instance of fear regardless of its nature. Yet somehow, children in circumstances like you just.. tugged at something he thought was long dead in his heart. 

'I could change the nightmare to be something less...severe.' He thought. 

His hand hesitated and he pulled it back.  
'You've been having those a lot though. Haven't you..?' 

You turned over onto your side in a futile attempt to get comfortable again and it nearly made Pitch jump. With a little huff, you start to sit up to move your pillow around. The sand above your head vanished and the nightmare sand retreated back to Pitch. You rubbed your eyes, getting the crust out of the corners and.. you swore something was in the room with you. Tugging your blankets up to your chest, your eyes began to adjust to the dark as you scanned your room all over for something. What looked like a mere shadow of a man looked almost clear to you. You could see his hair.. his eyes.. maybe parts of his face.  
Yes.  
There was someone in the room with you.

Your back was huddled against the wall, eyes wide as saucers staring at whatever it was staring back at you. For the first time in a while, Pitch did not relish in a child being able to see him. What was he going to do with you? You certainly were in no shape or mind to run to your parents crying. They wouldn't chase away any monsters for you. Pitch thought more than anything you'd get yelled at. Something about that just didn't sit right with him. Was he getting weak in the modern era? Perhaps. With a heavy sigh, he decided to finally say something to you. 

"You wished for a good dream. Didn't you." He said almost in a whisper but loud enough for you to hear. 

You were honestly too scared to speak, so you simply nodded.

"How often have you had nightmares, little one?"

"A-A lot.." You manage to squeak out. 

Pitch twirled the sands in his fingers and thought hard. What would one child not having a nightmare, be to countless others who did. He looked upon you with a twinge of pity, or whatever he had left that could make him feel pity. The shadows bent to his will, as they turned a weak light light on and fixed your pillow for you. You stared on in confused fear. This man was scary for sure but..why did he look so sad?  
Sure enough it felt easier to breath somehow. The lump in your chest started to fade and you wondered if he had anything to do with it. 

"M-Mr.Boogeyman..?"

Pitch glanced over at you once more.

"Aren't you supposed to....scare me..? O-Or-"

Pitch raised his hand at you to signal you to stop.  
"Not tonight little one. Perhaps another."

His hand let loose the small remaining bits of gold sand that were not tainted. With a light blow from him, the sand landed gently right on your face. That warmth washed over you again and you felt yourself drifting off to sleep. Pitch backed away from your bed and the last thing you saw was a shadowy man exiting your window. He looked back at you, making sure you fell asleep this time, then sent the nightmare sand he collected on a journey to other children's homes. It was nights like these that frustrated him. He could have easily just let you suffer through the nightmare and be on his way. Yet he couldn't bring himself to.  
Pitch looked over at a nearby tree, who's leafs were almost completely gone. The wind lightly swaying them distantly reminded him of..her. 

He chuckled to himself. Perhaps that is what you did. You touched the part of his heart that he thought had long rotted away. The part that she created. To think a parent of any kind would do anything like that.. Like what he saw in your brief nightmare. 

'What a waste of a life.' He thought to himself. 

The night was still young and he had to keep going. If he saw any others who had a similar fear to yours...perhaps he would leave them alone that night. Just this once.


End file.
